Description

The Cures album ‘Wish’ was an immediate hit, entering the British charts at number one and the American charts at number two. The album also launched two hit singles, ‘Friday I'm in Love’ and ‘High’. ‘A Letter To Elise’ was a slightly curious choice for the third and last single to be released from ‘Wish’. The track is certainly a fine enough Cure song, with a gently melancholy catch in the lyrics and guitar line, but it's not particularly distinct on its own beyond the vibe-keyboard melody. This out of print single is backed up with three tracks not available on the album. ‘The Big Hand’ however became an unexpected radio hit in some American quarters in late 1993. Smith shows some very nice acoustic guitar flashes throughout — almost flamenco at points — while the overall band performance is a fairly typical enough mid-paced Cure effort, with an attractive, lush arrangement and intriguingly cryptic lyric. ‘A Foolish Arrangement’, on the other hand, fits the slightly quicker mood of other Cure B-sides like ‘Babble’ or ‘2 Late’, with an especially fine guitar line from Smith as the main attraction. The disc ends with an extended remix of ‘A Letter To Elise’ with a rougher rhythm via Williams drumming and Gallups growling bas. Track listing: 1. A Letter To Elise 2. The Big Hand 3. A Foolish Arrangement 4. A Letter To Elise-blue mix